S. Korea may acquire nuclear subs after North’s test

SEOUL: South Korea’s Navy is considering acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, it said yesterday in a surprise announcement which would change the balance of power in north-east Asia and is likely to upset several of its neighbours.

Seoul is surrounded by three nuclear powers – China, Russia, and North Korea, which invaded its neighbour in 1950 – while it and neighbour Japan, both of them US allies but with difficult relations between them, rely on Washington’s nuclear umbrella.

Pyongyang last week tested what it said was a submarinelaunched ballistic missile, although the US said it seemed to have been fired from a “seabased platform”.

A proven submarine-based missile capability would take the North’s arsenal to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.

In a report submitted to parliament the South Korean Navy said it had set up a task force headed by a commander-level official to examine procuring nuclear-powered submarines in the long term, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.

It appears to be the first time Seoul has publicly spoken of developing nuclear submarines, which were not mentioned in its most recent defence white paper. The document said the South had 10 conventional dieselpowered submarines, compared to 70 for the North.

According to South Korean media, the navy said the issue was “a matter to be determined as a national policy in consultation with the Defence Ministry and the Joint Chief of Staff”.

South Korean Navy chief Admiral Sim Seung-seob told MPs that nuclear-powered submarines capable of longer underwater operations than conventional boats would be “most effective in finding and destroying North Korean submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles”, according to Yonhap.